December 02, 2025

Live From ILTM: Inside Forbes Travel Guide's 67-Year Legacy of Defining Luxury

14 minutes

Forbes Travel Guide has been the gold standard for luxury hotel ratings for more than 60 years, and its anonymous inspections remain one of the travel industry's most influential forces. In this ⁠ILTM⁠ (International Luxury Travel Market) episode, recorded live in Cannes, Hermann Elger, CEO of Forbes Travel Guide, joins Afar co-founder Joe Diaz to reveal how the guide maintains its integrity while expanding beyond hotels into cruise lines, air travel, and emerging luxury categories.

The conversation covers how Forbes protects inspector anonymity—even from Hermann himself—and why the Standards Advisory Committee includes industry voices to ensure ratings evolve with traveler expectations. Hermann also explores how the five-star standard has become synonymous with excellence across industries and shares its expansion into river cruises, the Edge List for emerging properties, Star Bars, and the Icons List for legendary establishments.

What You'll Learn

Forbes Travel Guide inspectors remain anonymous even to the CEO, with only two people knowing their identities to maintain rating integrity

Service accounts for the majority of scoring over facilities—a property can have dated décor but achieve five stars through exceptional service

The Guide has expanded to include Verified Air Travel Awards, cruise and river cruise ratings, the Edge List for up-and-coming properties, Star Bars, and the Icons List

Standards evolve through an industry Advisory Committee that ensures ratings reflect current luxury expectations while maintaining consistency

Key Moments

[3:28] Discussion of how Forbes maintains inspector anonymity and why third-party verification matters more than ever in the age of online reviews

[6:11] Hermann reveals the Guide's expansion strategy: cruise lines, air travel awards, Edge List, Star Bars, and Icons List to cover the full luxury travel journey

[10:11] Behind the curtains of how these iconic lists come together.

Resources

Visit the Forbes Travel Guide website for star ratings and travel planning

Explore the Verified Air Travel Awards and Edge List for emerging properties

Discover ILTM Cannes where this conversation was recorded

Stay Connected

Sign up for our podcast newsletter, ⁠⁠Behind the Mic⁠⁠, where we share upcoming news and behind-the-scenes details of each episode.

Explore our other podcasts, ⁠Unpacked,⁠ where we dig into the trickiest topics in travel, and ⁠⁠Travel Tales⁠⁠, which celebrates first-person narratives about the way travel changes us.

This ILTM special series was recorded live in Cannes, France. View From Afar is a production of Afar Media. The podcast is produced by Aislyn Greene and Nikki Galteland.

View From Afar is part of ⁠⁠Airwave Media⁠⁠'s podcast network. Please contact ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠ if you would like to advertise on our podcast.

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By Afar

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